How common is the surname Cooper?

280,791 people in the United States had the surname Cooper in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,100 Americans. It ranked 70th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Cooper?

Bradley Cooper, American actor and filmmaker (born 1975), followed by Gary Cooper.

Where is the surname Cooper most common?

Wikidata records people named Cooper in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 3 other countries.

How do you pronounce Cooper?

Cooper is /ˈkupɚ/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Cooper getting more or less common?

More common. 270,097 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 280,791 in 2010, up 4.0%.

Is Cooper also a first name?

Yes. Cooper is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Cooper

An occupational surname, the 70th most common in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈkupɚ/ 2 syllables Soundex C160 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Cooper is more common than 99.9% of them.

Origin

An English surname originating as an occupation of cooper.

Cooper is an occupational surname: named after the work an ancestor did.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 280,791 people named Cooper in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 1,100 Americans. That is up 4.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 270,097.

#70

rank among US surnames

280,791

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+4%

change since 2000 (was #64)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#61	Stewart	324,957	950
#62	Morris	318,884	968
#63	Morales	311,777	990
#64	Murphy	308,417	1,001
#65	Cook	302,589	1,020
#66	Rogers	302,261	1,021
#67	Gutierrez	293,218	1,053

Who is named Cooper

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

68% of people named Cooper identified as white (not Hispanic), 26% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 68%
Black (not Hispanic) 26%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%
Two or more races 2.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Coopers

109 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Bradley Cooper
American actor and filmmaker (born 1975)
Gary Cooper
American actor (1901–1961)
James Fenimore Cooper
American writer (1789–1851)
Alice Cooper
American singer (born 1948)
Leon Cooper
American physicist (1930–2024)
Chris Cooper
American actor (1951-)
Martin Cooper
American engineer, father of mobile phone, born 1928
Dominic Cooper
British actor, born 1978
Gordon Cooper
American astronaut (1927–2004)
Anderson Cooper
American journalist (born 1967)
Jackie Cooper
American actor, director (1922-2011)
Merian C. Cooper
American aviator, actor, director and producer (1893-1973)

Notable Coopers come mostly from the United States (87), the United Kingdom (10) and Australia (7).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Cooper

Cooper has the Soundex code C160, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code C160.

Questions

How common is the surname Cooper?: 280,791 people in the United States had the surname Cooper in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 1,100 Americans. It ranked 70th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Cooper?: In the 2010 Census, 68% of people named Cooper identified as white (not Hispanic), and 26% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Cooper?: Bradley Cooper, American actor and filmmaker (born 1975), followed by Gary Cooper.
Where is the surname Cooper most common?: Wikidata records people named Cooper in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 3 other countries.
How do you pronounce Cooper?: Cooper is /ˈkupɚ/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Cooper?: Cooper is an occupational surname, named after the work an ancestor did.
Is the surname Cooper getting more or less common?: More common. 270,097 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 280,791 in 2010, up 4.0%.
Is Cooper also a first name?: Yes. Cooper is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.